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‘Shuffled out of the way!’ SVG returns serve as tempers threaten to ‘erupt’

Shane van Gisbergen has claimed another controversial Supercars victory, but his move to “shuffle” rival Chaz Mostert aside became the big talking point of the race.

Van Gisbergen, who was stripped of the season opening race win in Newcastle on Saturday due to his team’s incorrect use of dry ice as a cooling device, charged from fifth to take the lead on the penultimate lap.

But how he took the lead came under scrutiny as his Red Bull Ampol Racing entry made contact with Mostert on lap 85.

Failing to redress, Mostert then “returned serve” with contact on van Gisbergen but couldn’t hold off the raging Kiwi who claimed victory in a time-shortened race due to lap one crash drama.

“A little bit of dodgem stuff there,” commentator Mark Skaife said of the van Gisbergen contact.

Supercars great Neil Crompton said there was no doubt the incident would be reviewed.

“This will be an interesting one because I have no doubt at WAU they’ll have something to say about that,” he said.

“They’ll erupt in there.

“It’ll be two dramatically different sides to the story. They’ll argue they were unfairly moved out of the way.

“It is a contact sport.

“Will there be more to the story?

“He shuffled Chaz Mostert out of the way.”

It’s the second time Triple Eight and Walkinshaw Andretti United have been at loggerheads this weekend after WAU and Tickford Racing both lodged successful protests against van Gisbergen and teammate Broc Feeney’s use of dry ice in their race one victory.

The Red Bull duo were later stripped of their one-two race result.

Mostert later described van Gisbergen’s race two contact as “cheeky” while team boss Ryan Walkinshaw described it as “a classic Shane move”.

“I don’t mind rubbing, but when you get a clear path from it, it’s a little bit cheeky,” Mostert said.

“It is what it is.”

Van Gisbergen just ignored the drama when asked directly what he thought of the contact.

“All I have to say is thank you to Red Bull,” he said.

“The team knuckled down and did a good job.

“I did all my talking on track. Thank you.”

Under the Supercars Code of Driving Conduct, rule 3.9 states drivers are “not permitted to unfairly gain an advantage as result of contact to another car”.

The contact is just another layer of drama to the Newcastle 500 weekend.

Earlier, there was drama in the opening seconds when Declan Fraser ploughed his TRADIE Mustang into the pit lane wall after contact with Macauley Jones from the grid.

Fraser had tried to sneak through the middle when he got a tap from Jones, turning him into the fence.

The impact was so great, the pit lane wall shifted, forcing the race to be suspended for safety reasons before the first lap could be completed.

Drivers exited their vehicles given the more than 20-minute delay taken to lift the barrier wall back into place.

Pole sitter David Reynolds was jumped from the start as Chaz Mostert got the better off the line. And he just couldn’t get back in the two top to challenge.

Mostert was able to fight off a challenge from fellow Mustang Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters mid-race.

Waters showed plenty of pace on Sunday, after his race one win promotion on Saturday following Red Bull’s disqualification.

But on lap 48 his race effectively ended as he bumped his Monster Energy entry into the wall and bent the steering.

Pit lane works ensured Waters was able to return to the race on the lead lap, but out of contention.

Shane van Gisbergen was left frustrated by rival Jack Le Brocq as he attempted to close the gap to Mostert.

With the Walkinshaw Andretti United team opting for an early stop, van Gisbergen was gifted the lead to put down some fast lap times.

But with Le Brocq camped in front, the reigning Supercars champion was heard repeatedly blowing up on his team radio arguing for a blue flag to be shown to allow him to pass.

Mostert was able to pick up a second per lap on van Gisbergen during the run.

By the time Red Bull opted to bring van Gisbergen in, Mostert got through in front but the Kiwi wouldn’t be denied.

Due to the opening lap drama, teams were alerted the race would end prematurely, with a final lap to take place after 5.18pm local time.

And it was van Gisbergen who claimed the first win for the Gen3 Camaro on Sunday.

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